Invitations to Love, Seriously

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They do say May is the new December. And that is 100% truth. ‘Tis the season for graduations, holidays, sacraments and everything in between. The extrovert in me rejoices, but the mom in me is still looking for a nap. Last week at our house, we hosted a massive first communion shindig for family and friends, then promptly loaded up and took prom photos of our high school junior. In the next two weeks, we celebrate two birthdays and an eighth grade graduation.

Jesus, take the wheel.

Of course, there’s end-of-year everything and I have approximately 1.5-billion SignUp Genius emails in my inbox. Any bets on how many of those I’ve deleted without even opening them?

BUT, amidst all that joyful activity (I kid, but it has been supremely awesome, the party hangover could be brutal though), we have learned what we can do, and where we need help. Hopefully, I can take one thing off your “things to stress about” list. Invitations! Keep reading, y’all, I’m giving away a huge shop credit.

Call me old-fashioned, but isn’t it so lovely to walk to your mailbox and get the prettiest piece of mail that isn’t a bill or junk? When we were planning Luke’s first communion celebration and John Paul’s eighth grade graduation party I knew I wanted something classy, timeless and simple. That’s where Minted came in. I have used them so! many! times!

Even though I’m a graphic designer, I’m also a mom who loves a good party. When you’re planning a shindig, outsourcing some things makes for a teeny bit less stress. Maybe you ask folks to bring over food, or your mom to vacuum the carpet, or your kids to pick up their 8,000 pairs of shoes. Whatever allows you to be fully present to your guests so you can spend less time worrying about all the things and more time being a guest in your home is where you should put your energies. For me, having someone else do the invitation design means that I won’t obsess for weeks (oh, I’ve done that before) about the font size or the Pantone colors. I know, I need an intervention.

The quality of Minted invitations (especially their sacramental ones) never disappoints and neither does the customer service. For starters, here’s how they package your things!

They can also address your invitations. And, once you’ve put those addresses in their system, they transfer to any project which is a huge time saver. Plus, there are loads of font options. The graphic designer geek in me totally rejoiced. All I had to do was stuff the envelopes and add a stamp.

Surprisingly, the Holy Father had a busy weekend and wasn’t able to jet off to Austin, but if he had…

…he would’ve looked awesome with us in this photo!

I digress.

For me, the invite has always been the jumping off point and how I structure the colors and feel of the party. Because the invites had mint green, purple and white in them, those colors were echoed all throughout the party decor. Don’t worry, I’ll dish on the details of the party next week. Here’s the invite, front and back. You can choose to just put things on the front, or make it two-sided. You can also add or delete text boxes which make the design even more personal. I was grateful a graphic designer took one last look at our invite before it was sent to the printer just to make sure everything lined up and looked beautiful.

And here’s the cake and cookies. I. Know! Recognize any components of the invite in the cookies?

Then, there was Will’s Confirmation last May where we used the colors and fonts from the invite to celebrate.

And how could I leave off the girls’ first communion parties? Both the cakes were directly inspired by the invitations I fell head over heels with, and so did the girls! These invitations are similar to what we used. And I love them!

All that yapping and all those pretty photos to say, you really can never go wrong with Minted. It’s high quality, the designs are on trend and classy, their shipping is fast, their customer service is great and they offer so many extras that fit a variety of budgets. If you’re looking for Minted’s biggest fan girl. I’m here. Right. Here.

Because I love them so much, they’re offering one of YOU a $250 shop credit for anything on their site. Y’all. That is amazing! Entering here is easy, just follow Rafflecopter. You can also enter over on Instagram. I’ll be combining entries to choose one winner. Just make sure you invite me to your party, deal?

Love how you do parties!! I have been the worst at getting things ready for parties. I thought I had my oldest’s graduation party pretty well in hand. Now my middle is graduating this month & I’m at a loss. She was the one that went online & did the party invitations. I’m just hoping that when the time comes for my 4 year old to need a party I will be able to handle it. LOL! Love your ideas.

LOVE Love Love your perspective on hospitality and parties! I aspire to the same. I have a piece of art in my house that says (paraphrasing) “hospitality is not to change people but to provide a space for change to take place” (Henri Nouwen)

Wow! Thanks for the timely posts! I just used your last post for picking out a First Communion gift for my niece and Goddaughter! (The Clarey Clayworks bowl just arrived yesterday and is beautiful!!!)

And I am working on trying to choose a wedding invitation for my wedding in October! I was leaning towards using Minted, but your post has pushed me over the edge! (Even if I don’t win the giveaway!) I didn’t realize that once you input your guest list, you can then transfer it to other invites in the future! That’s super helpful!

Thanks again for all the help! (Oh, and thanks for offering to possibly babysit my friend/photographer’s little one during our upcoming engagement shoot!) We don’t even really know each other, but I feel like you’ve been a little angel the Lord has placed in my life to help!

I haven’t ordered from Minted, but I’ve always admired the clean look of their prints & invitations. I’d like to make some personalized postcards to send friends and family. Thanks for sharing and for the chance to win!

I heard about Minted from a friend a month or so ago and have been drooling… gracefully, of course… over all of the designs! I’m glad I have a little time to make a decision because I simply cannot choose right now.

I’m getting married in November and will be using Minted for the invites – and I love the free website you get with your orders! Genius.

HOWDY and welcome to life at Team Whitaker where I share life as it happens: big families, carpool, Catholicism,Texas Aggies, prematurity, DIY/organizing projects, sanity checks and the occasional glass of wine at 10am. You get real Kathryn. Unedited, honest and a little sassy. It's a Texas-sized honor to have you here! Contact me at [email protected]{Read More}